CD and DVD drives, of whatever specification or manufacturer, are targets of opportunity for unfortunate accidents — especially in versions installed in laptop computers.
Arrested development
These drives have moving parts, including a motor that spins the disc and a stepper motor to move the read/write heads across the radius of the platter. The tiny motors have become extremely reliable, and most live a long and full life. But any moving part may one day stop its motion.
Suggested treatment: Keep all ventilation holes clear and make sure that your laptop fan is operating properly; heat is the enemy of many parts of a laptop, including drive motors. Take care to mount discs carefully and don't force the drive to work with a misaligned or damaged disc.
Twisted logic
On a laptop, the entire mechanism slides out of the body of the machine on a lightweight set of rails. You have to mount discs carefully to avoid twisting the mechanism out of alignment. And you really, really, really don't want to drop your computer with the drive drawer open.
Suggested treatment: Use a light hand when you mount a disc; examine the mechanism to see if you should support the tray with one hand while you install or remove the disc with the other. Always make sure that you close the drive drawer when not using it. And don't drop your laptop!
Cloudy views
You expose the lens that focuses the beam of the tiny laser to the elements each time that you open the drawer. Dirt or dust that settles on the lens can cause it to lose its eye for data. The CD or DVD itself may also be dirty or coated with an oil or other substance that makes it impossible for the LCD to focus on the data layer. If you need to, gently wipe the disc with a clean cloth dipped in water or a very weak water-alcohol mix. After cleaning, if your laptop can read the material from a disc, copy that material to your hard drive, throw away the CD or DVD, and rerecord the data to a fresh, clean disc.
Suggested treatment: Keep your workspace clean and avoid working in excessively dusty or dirty places. If dust does enter the drive, use a can of compressed air to blow dirt off the lens — aim the spray away from the interior of the laptop and be sure to keep the can upright and at least 6 inches away from the lens. Check with the manufacturer of your laptop for any special advice for cleaning the lens of the laser beam.
A bad marriage
Not all CDs and DVDs use the same design for their lasers and optics, and not all recordable and rewriteable CDs and DVDs use the same chemical compounds for their recordable layer. Although the most current drives are much more flexible in their demands than earlier ones, you may run into situations where a drive refuses to write to a particular design or brand, or a drive may not be able to read data recorded by a different drive.
Suggested treatment: Most manufacturers make recommendations of compatible brands or types of blank discs for recording. But run tests to find which brands and colors of discs work best in your laptop, as well as in any desktop machine that you may want to play recorded CDs or DVDs.
Computer dementia
CD and DVD drives make great demands on the system and, depending on the type of information stored on the disc, to the sound card and graphics adapter. Any corruption, accidental deletions of drivers or applications, and even inappropriate settings or file associations can cause a drive to suddenly become missing in action.
Suggested treatment: If your CD or DVD stops playing or recording, you should first go to the Control Panel and check the device properties. Make use of the Update Driver option to look for a new driver or make sure that you have the correct one in place. You can also use the Roll Back Driver option to go back in time to the previous driver.
If your machine is running Windows XP, you can also use System Restore to return your system to previous settings. System Restore goes back somewhere between a few days and a few weeks, depending on how many changes you make to your system. You can access System Restore by clicking Accessories --> System Tools --> System Restore.
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